


The Second Notebook in the Mirror

by necromanced



Category: Descendants (2015), The Isle of the Lost - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Secret Crush, Slight angst maybe?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-26
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-17 08:09:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4659141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/necromanced/pseuds/necromanced
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In order to get back in Carlos' good graces, Jay finds himself searching for a notebook that's missing in action. Little does he know, he'll find much more than that in the room.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Second Notebook in the Mirror

**Author's Note:**

> okay sooo first jaylos fic. the characterization is probably off, but that's okay, i'll fix it once i write more! anyways, shortly after this one, i'll be writing a smut fic so keep ur eye out for that. other thn that enjoy, and comment w typos or mistakes (i might've mixed up their names i noticed i was doing that sometimes while writing)

Sitting at the edge of his bed, palms folded in his lap, Jay watched intently as Carlos slept soundly, his chest rising and falling with each slow breath he took, and Jay just  __ watched _ _ . Already dressed for class, he glanced at the watch on his wrist, noting that he did a pretty good job stealing such a nice watch from Chad. It was already 7:55, and class was going to start in five minutes. Jay could hear Mal and Evie chattering down the hall, the two of them pretty loud for a bunch of villains, but he didn't mind that. He just couldn't wait until they walked in and saw Carlos still fast asleep.

In all honesty, Jay really didn't want to wake Carlos up. The poor boy rarely slept so soundly through the night, since he most messed around with his usual gadgets, especially with their new equipment the school had gladly supplied for the recently turned villain children. Of course, they still liked to do some villainous things, like stealing, and only occasionally did Mal find herself using her spells, while Carlos still snuck into empty rooms with Jay hot on his tail to clean the room out of anything they needed. If anything, Evie was the only one to turn over a new leaf, but maybe it was because she was so busy all the time making dresses and outfits for everybody, she hardly had time to be evil.

Somebody knocked on the door, followed a loud, "Hello!" from Evie. Jay opened the door quickly, shushing them as he pointed at the bed. As they crept inside of the room, Dude sat up on the bed, staring at them. Jay tried to shush the dog, but Dude knew exactly what was happening, and began to bark as loud as he could before he jumped on Carlos a few times, still barking and growling at the three of them in the middle of the room. Jay waved his hands quickly, but the mutt kept barking until Carlos stirred from his slumber, his arms and legs moving first as he stretched them out as far as he could, groaning quietly before he peered one eye open, barely discerning the fact that Dude was barking to alert him of the "danger" in the room. Carlos forced himself to sit up, rubbing his eyes recklessly as he yawned and stared at the figures in front of him.

"Morning, Jay." He said first before he threw the blankets off of his lower half and slid out of the bed. "Morning, Mal, Evie." He mumbled to himself, hardly paying attention as they giggled lightly, and then again when they asked him a question. It was too early in the morning for this type of thing, he thought, as they laughed, and then asked again. This time he listened, growing tired from just that.

"You ready for class?" They asked as Carlos' eyes barely slid open, and he spotted their odd uniforms, and then his eyes widened. He grabbed the clock from beside him, pulling it to his face as he read  __ 7:55 am _ _ _ . _

"What?!" He said, throwing it to the side as he sprinted to his dresser, pulling out jeans and a shirt without realizing it, throwing his clothes on the bed on top of Dude, making the dog whimper and paw at the clothes until they slipped off of him. Carlos turned on his heel, staring at a chuckling Jay with the most annoyed expression they had seen in a long time.

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

Jay paused, shrugging in response. "You looked like you were sleeping soundly. I didn't want to wake you up."

"Don't you remember?" Carlos nearly shouted, his hand balling up at his sides. "I have a test this morning in history of magic." Jay's heart stopped for a minute as he cringed. He did remember Carlos  ~~ vaguely ~~ mentioning it the past week every time he studied and talked about it and  __ God _ _ _ ,  _ Jay really had messed up. Carlos pointed to the door, Evie and Mal quickly scurrying from the room before Carlos grabbed Jay by his arm and shoved him out of the room as well, slamming it behind him. From behind the door, they could only hear him grumbling quietly, and Dude scampering across the floor. A loud  __ thud _ _ _ !  _ resounded from the room, and they all cringed at the sound of that.

"Oh man, you're gonna get it so bad, Jay." Mal said, almost taunting him, but then frowning. "That's gotta suck since you room with him."

Evie twiddled her fingers lightly. "Maybe you should apologize." She said. "He looked really mad."

"He'll get over it. I'll do it later." Jay waved it off. This had happened before, and Carlos didn't bother to talk about it since then, so it clearly wasn't bothering him a whole lot. Jay opted to leave and head to class, but a strong uncomfortable feeling sat in the pit of his stomach as he thought about how Carlos' eyes had looked and the way he seemed so obviously angry at him. “He's just throwing a tantrum.”

“Yeah, but when was the last time he threw one?” Mal snapped back. “He's really ticked, you should apologize once he's cooled off.”

“I said I'd do it later.” Jay replied hastily, quickening his pace from his two friends and frowning at the ground. How were they going to lecture him on what had happened. It wasn't even that _bad_.

**

Jay and Carlos didn't have a class until AP Evil Science, a class that had been transferred from the Isle to keep some sort of familiarity with the four kids who had decided to live in the United States of Auradon instead. Of course, everything was highly contained, and their teacher, though an odd, blind woman, knew exactly what she was doing and how to keep others from messing around. It was only the four of them in class, but apparently they were going to try opening for the public soon.

Jay hesitated before entering the quiet, dark room. He wasn't sure where Carlos was, if he was even there yet, but if he was, he didn't want to walk into the room. The dirty looks he was going to get the entire class, from Carlos and Mal as well, was enough to scare him off from entering. Mal was vicious, but when Carlos was mad, he was relentless. It must have had something to do with his mom raising him the way she did.

He reached his hand out for the doorknob in front of him, hesitating and pulling it back before he finally swung the door open and peeked inside of the classroom. Only their teacher sat at her desk, reading a book carefully before Jay heaved a sigh of relief and placed his hand on his chest. He hadn't realized he was holding his breath like that.

From behind Jay, a short figure pushed past his arm, shoving him almost to the side as Carlos walked into the room. Jay's expression changed as he stared at him, his outfit a little more unusual than other days. He stared at his shoes, normal combat boots, and his pants, black with with white patches splattered over it, and then his shirt... which wasn't a shirt at all. Instead, he wore a long hoodie that stretched past his thighs and almost reached his knees. The cloth swayed from side to side like a dress would, but that was most definitely not a dress. Jay stared a little longer before Carlos sat down, and he realized-

“Hey, that's my hoodie.” Jay said quickly.

Carlos didn't offer any sort of response. He pulled his backpack up, slipping out a few folders before he started to write something down. Their teacher, Mama Odie, looked up from her spot.

“Afternoon, boys.” She said with a smile.

“Hey.” Carlos said, and Jay followed. She went back to her book before her snake slithered up her back and across her arms.

“Did you grab my hoodie while you were rushing?” Jay sat down next to Carlos, trying to smile so Carlos would too, but he hardly offered any response. “Oh yeah.... Hey, man, can I talk to you about that?”

Carlos continued writing, but he didn't look away from Jay like he normally would when he was angry.

“Listen, I just thought you were tired from studying all night, so I didn't think it was a big deal letting you sleep in for once.”

Carlos rolled his eyes.

“And you looked way peaceful. I didn't want to bug you. I mean, it's not like I care about you or anything, but you're still human.”

“And why was I tired?” Carlos said, the tone in his voice angry as he finished writing, placing his pencil on the desk.

“Because you were studying all night, I just said-”

“And what was I studying for?”

“...History of magic.” He said softly.

“Which I had a test for. Today. First period.” Carlos said. Mama Odie looked up from her desk, standing up and walking to the board before she began to scribble her sloppy writing on the board. Mal and Evie trailed into the room, closing the door behind them as they sat on the other side of Carlos and Jay, separated by only a small space. Mal stared at the two of them, and Evie uncomfortably shifted in her seat. She could feel the odd atmosphere around them, and she didn't like it at all.

“I know, I just completely spaced it off.” Jay said. “I wasn't doing it on purpose, I swear.”

“Yeah.” Carlos said. “Just drop it.”

“No, dude, my bad.” Jay paused, almost apologizing, but the word was still foreign to his lips as he stumbled over his words.

“Drop it.” Carlos said again, this time his voice short and angry.

Jay shook his head, his hair swinging slightly as he reached his hand out to grab Carlos' arm.

“Dude, why are you being like that, it was an accident. ”

“Tell that to my grade in history of magic, then.” Carlos pulled out a packet of papers, slamming it down on the desk in front of Jay and pointing to the circled, red F at the top of the page. But when Jay stared at it, none of the answers were filled out, not one page of answers.

“What?”

“I was late to class.” Carlos snapped. “Being late on a test day is an automatic failure.” Carlos pointed to it again. “So it might have been an accident, but now I'm failing that class. I-I didn't even get a chance to explain or try to answer some questions. Immediate failure.” He said.

Jay's eyes scanned the page, his expression lowering as his mood soured.

“Carlos,” Mal began softly, but the other boy picked up his bag and stuffed the packet inside of it, moving to a different table and slamming his things down. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, Evie jumping at the sound of Carlos throwing his things. Jay hadn't talked or moved at all since he stared at the page.

Mama Odie stood in front of the class, her expression solemn and indifferent, but she shrugged. Of course she had heard everything, she had great hearing, but she never offered any insight during class time. Jay's shoulders slumped, and he sunk into his chair. He stared at the back of Carlos' head, hoping somehow he would turn around and smile at him and forgive him, but he knew that was almost impossible now. He couldn't believe how strict that teacher was, to immediately fail Carlos for being late. He would have to find some way to make it up to Carlos, and fast.

**

Jay waited at the corner of the classroom, uncomfortably shifting as he searched for the small, white haired boy in the crowd of people. Carlos knew how to hide extremely well, but Jay could find even the smallest hint of him when he needed to.

From beside him, a black and white blur flashed as Jay reached his hand out and latched onto Carlos' arm. The other boy stopped, rolling his eyes in response before he tried to pull Jay's hand off of his arm. Jay gripped a little tighter, but not enough to hurt him.

“Carlos, hey.”

Carlos didn't say anything, just glanced at Jay in acknowledgment. Jay was amazed at how much Carlos had changed since he had first met him back on the Isle. Carlos used to be a cowardly little boy, who could hardly look him and Mal in the eye when he spoke. Now he ignored Jay outright, eyes barely meeting, but in anger instead of fear.

“Listen.” He stopped. “I talked to your teacher.”

Carlos' eyes widened.

“Jay, you didn't.”

“I talked to him, and he said-”

“Did you make it worse?” Carlos said. “Did he yell at you? Am I out of that class? What did you do?”

Jay grabbed Carlos' shoulders and gently held on to him.

“You can retake the test after lunch.” Jay breathed out. “I'm really sorry. I'm really, _really_ sorry, and I should've said that earlier, but I was.... I dunno. A-anyway, I'll leave you alone so you can study or something.”

“Jay, you're amazing.” Carlos said, his eyes gleaming up at the taller boy as he smiled widely. “B-but I don't have any of my notes to study with, or anything like that.” Carlos paused. “Would you do me a favor?”

Jay smiled. “Anything.”

“Grab my notebook from the dorm. I'd be in your debt more than I am now.” Carlos said. “I can't believe you did that. I can't believe you went up to him and asked.”

Jay's heart fluttered at the sight of Carlos smiling and staring up at him the way he always did. He felt his cheeks warm, and his ears turn red before he nodded and rubbed his neck.

“It was nothing, don't worry about it.”

“You're the best.” Carlos said. “I'll meet you in front of my classroom after lunch. Is that okay?”

Jay nodded quickly. “Yeah! I'm just gonna go get it now.” He paused and awkwardly laughed. “I'm still really sorry, Carlos. If I hadn't messed up this morning, you'd be fine.”

“The past is past.” Carlos repeated a familiar line that made Jay bust out into laughter. He met Carlos' gaze again.

“Forgive, forget?”

Carlos nodded, reaching his fist out towards Jay and bumping their knuckles together.

“Always.”

**

The dorm was a mess from that morning when Carlos had woken up and thrown his clothes around. Lo and behold, Jay was right; Carlos had accidentally gotten into his drawers instead of his own, and that must have been why he had picked out his hoodie on accident. Jay figured, at least he picked a piece of clothing that wasn't leather, since that was practically all Jay owned and wore.

Carlos' side of the room was torn apart from his bed to his shoes, and he frowned with a loud sigh, thinking about how he would clean that up after his last period, as another apology to Carlos for waking him up late. He remembered how Carlos' expression had changed when he told him that he had convinced the teacher to give him another chance, the way his eyes widened and gleamed in amazement, and Jay recalled that familiar twang in his chest that made him wonder why that had happened. He shook it off as a random feeling, and then proceeded to search around the room for Carlos' notebook.

First, he looked around the desk and in his drawers, opening each one before he realized it wasn't anywhere by the desk. His backpack was wide open, but empty as well. Jay heaved another sigh, realizing he should've asked Carlos where the notebook was instead of randomly searching for it, but maybe Carlos himself didn't know, since he made such a mess this morning!

Meanwhile, Evie and Mal eyed Jay curiously through a crack in the door to the dorm room.

“What's he looking for?” Evie whispered. “Do you think he knows about Carlos' notebook?”

“No way.” Mal interjected. “Carlos keeps that thing pretty well hidden from him. Use your mirror to see what he's looking for.” Mal ordered. Evie glanced at her with a familiar type of smile, and Mal used a softer tone. “Please.” She said, but the word was still foreign to her tongue, and she felt just _odd_ saying it.

“Mirror, mirror, sleep no more. What is Jay searching for?” Evie whispered to her mirror, and a familiar image of two notebooks came up; one of Carlos' school notebooks, and then another that only Evie and Mal had ever seen, hidden underneath Carlos' mattress. The first notebook flashed, and then appeared in her mirror, underneath the dresser and a few shirts. The second notebook appeared as well, underneath the mattress of Carlos' bed, but instead, with a small corner sticking out. Mal's eyes widened before she hastily slammed the door open to the dorm.

“I know where the notebook is!” She yelled before her voice dropped, and she spotted Jay sitting on the edge of the bed with the spotted notebook in his hands. He flipped through the small pages, eyes scanning over each word with careful discernment. Mal's fingers went cold, and she looked to Evie for an answer. Evie shrugged, walking into the room beside Mal and stuffing her mirror into her bag.

Jay quietly tightened his grip on the notebook, but he placed it down on the bed.

“Where's the notebook?” He said.

“Jay-”

“I just need the other notebook.” He said. “Carlos has a test in 15 minutes. Can you tell me where it is?”

Evie leaned over, her fingers curling around a shirt and tossing it away before she found his school notebook and handed it to Jay. A different pattern was on his school notebook, one with stripes and hardly any wear and tear to the cover. He traced his finger along it before he smiled at the two of them.

“What's the matter with you guys? You're acting like you saw our parents again. Relax.”

“That notebook....”

“Is Carlos' notebook.” Jay finished the sentence. “And so is this one. Gotta go, guys. See ya later!”

Jay ran from the room, his demeanor changing as soon as he left their line of vision and turned a few corners. Was that notebook under the mattress really Carlos'? Of course it was, it was underneath his bed, in his part of the dorm, with his handwriting, but Jay had never thought Carlos thought those things ever. He felt chills run down his spine as he remembered that feeling when Carlos looked at him, and it made sense. It made sense, everything made sense. Jay stuffed the notebook into his vest, sprinting down the hallways again as he decided he was going to put Carlos to his own test when he saw him again.

Evie and Mal stared at each other, unsure of what to do about what had just happened. They snatched the notebook off of the bed and flipped through the pages. It was most definitely the same notebook they had seen before, but they didn't understand how Jay could have been so relaxed after he had seen it. The two of them had freaked out the first time they saw it, and Jay was going to act like nothing had happened.

“Do you have a spell to make him forget he saw anything in it?” Evie asked. “You've gotta have something like that.”

“I don't think so.” Mal said. “Even if I did, are we supposed to be interfering with it? I mean.... Jay did find it on his own.”

“Yeah, but....” Evie trailed off. “Ooooh, Carlos is going to be so mad!” She huffed. “I don't want him to be mad at us.”

“He won't be unless you tell him.” Mal said. “Our secret. Jay won't tell. We'll be fine.”

Evie nodded, but she knew deep down that something had changed when Jay was reading the notebook. She could feel it in her chest that something had either gone amazingly right, or terribly wrong, and she didn't feel like sticking around to find out what.

**

Carlos ran out of his classroom holding the same packet of papers to his chest, the large red F crossed out, and marked with a bigger, blue A+, with a smiley face in the corner of the page. Carlos looked down both halls before he spotted Jay waiting at the end of the hallway, sprinting down the hall and throwing the packet of papers up in his face.

“Thank you, thank you so much.” Carlos said in amazement, holding the paper close to his chest. “I can't believe you did that for me, you're so amazing, Jay.” He said before he realized how soft that sounded. His cheeks flushed, and his ears warmed, but he didn't retract his comment.

“It's all good.” Jay said quietly. “I'm glad you passed. Hey, uh.... Can we talk for a minute?” He said. “I don't mean to bum you out or anything, but I want to talk to you before we have to go to practice.” Jay said. “It's okay if you don't want to, though.”

“No, it's okay!” Carlos said, opening his backpack and stuffing the papers inside of it. “What's up?”

“Uhm....” Jay began quietly, his voice faltering as he tried to figure out exactly what he wanted to say. Was he even sure of what he wanted to say? He wasn't. “So... when I was looking for your notebook, I found a different notebook.”

Carlos' flushed face went pale as all the blood rushed to his stomach, and he suddenly felt sick.

“It had spots on it. It was underneath your mattress. I didn't mean to look through it, but I wanted to see if that was the one.”

Carlos' words were stuck deep in his throat as he felt dizzy, his heart beating so loudly in his ears he thought he was going to pass out. His fingertips shook against his sides.

“And I just wanted to say that... if that's what you want to do, I support you.” Jay said, patting Carlos' shoulder. “Even if I'm not happy, you'll be happy, and that's okay.”

Carlos' nervous breakdown waned as he furrowed his brow.

“Wait, what?”

“You and Jane, the godmother's girl.” Jay paused and rubbed his shoulder awkwardly. His own face flushed now, and he let out a soft sigh that seemed almost forlorn. “I think you should date her. I mean, that's what it says all over your notebook. I swear, I didn't want to look through something so personal.”

Carlos heaved a sigh of relief, but also of annoyance. He rubbed his forehead, pulling out a pen and paper as Jay continued to apologize, and stumbled over words about his sincerity in support of their relationship, though his tone didn't sound sincere at all.

“I get it's hard to read my handwriting sometimes,” Carlos interrupted, “but look at this. Spell your name for me.”

“J. A. Y.” Jay said. “You're a genius, why are you-”

Jay watched as Carlos scribbled down the letters, one after the other, and the familiar look of his name as he remembered that Carlos' handwriting was sloppy, but also neat and styled so sometimes his letters looked like different letters, especially when he was writing in a rush.

“Want me to write it again?” Carlos asked meekly as he wrote it over and over and over until it clicked in Jay's brain. Carlos then quickly wrote his own name after Jay's own, and then added a small plus sign between their names before he crumpled the paper up and tossed the pen back into his bag.

Jay was stunned. His voice came out in small, shocked squeaks as he thought about everything in the notebook, and how everything had seem to come together in his head. Carlos rolled his eyes, but didn't dare to say anything as he averted his gaze in embarrassment.

“That's okay if you don't like me that way.” Carlos said quietly. “I don't want to make it weird.” He mumbled. “But just so you know, I guess.... It was your name.” He said.

“Carlos, I... I never knew.” Jay said.

“So what was all that about, y'know, how I'd be happy, even if you weren't?” Carlos asked curiously. “You wouldn't be happy if I was dating Jane?”

Jay blushed furiously, his cheeks red hot as he looked away. Carlos had never seen Jay so flustered before, not even when a girl was hitting on him, or when he was hitting on a girl. Why was he so embarrassed now?

“Do you have a crush on Jane?” Carlos asked, this time leaning forward a bit. Jay flinched as soon as he said that, quickly coming back to reality and shaking his head. “That's okay if you do.” Carlos reassured him. “I'm sure you'd be happier with her.” Carlos trailed off, but he leaned forward again, this time a little closer to Jay's body as his fingers hovered over Jay's torso. “She'd be happier with you.”

Jay shook his head again, trying to form words, but nothing would come out as he stared at Carlos, the other boy eyeing him from his eyes, to his lips, then to his neck before he met his gaze again.

“No, I wouldn't be okay with that.” Jay said suddenly. Carlos smiled softly.

“Why not?”

“Because... I don't like her in the same way,” Jay paused and looked into Carlos' eyes, “that I like you.” Jay replied under his breath, then jumping forward as he cupped Carlos' face in his hands and pressed their warm lips against one another. It wasn't awkward like Carlos had thought it was going to be, and it wasn't embarrassing, as Jay had thought it was going to be. Carlos could feel Jay's burning blush on his cheeks as he placed his hands on Jay's neck, carefully, not daring to push any further than Jay was.

“Get a room!” Mal yelled from the end of the hallway. “It's burning my eyes.”

Evie smiled widely, her heart fluttering at the sight of the two who had quickly pulled away in embarrassment. Carlos rubbed his neck, turning away from Jay, but Jay pulled him into a warm embrace, lifting him off of the ground with a yelp.

“Is that why you guys freaked out when I found the notebook?” Jay asked. Mal's face warmed as well, and Evie twirled her foot nervously. “You knew about it the whole time?”

“Not the _whole_ time.” Evie said. “Just like... when we were coming to the Isle. A little before that.” Evie admitted softly.

“ _That long?_ ” Jay said, looking at Carlos.

“Okay, you can't really blame me. You're kind of a flirt with everyone, I just figured....” Carlos said.

Jay ruffled Carlos' hair, pulling him into his arm and laughing. “Notice how I never flirted with you?” Jay said. Carlos nodded, his face a shade of red his mom liked to wear on the Isle. “Because I was nervous all the time whenever you came around.” Jay said. “It's not that I didn't want to, it's that I _couldn't,_ you made me so nervous all the time.”

Carlos grinned widely. “You're adorable.” He said. Jay huffed in embarrassment.

“Oh, shut up.” He said, shoving Carlos' shoulder playfully away.

Evie and Mal turned their backs on the two, starting down the hall together with their pinkies locked together.

“We're such good matchmakers.” They said at the same time, laughter spilling out of their lips as they remembered pulling the notebook out for Jay to look at, as well as hiding Carlos' school notebook so Jay couldn't find it as easily. They would probably thank Mal and Evie later.

 


End file.
